In an electrical power system, switchgear is the combination of:
- disconnect switches
- circuit breakers or fuses
to control, safeguard and isolate electrical equipment.
Switchgear is utilized both to de-energize equipment.
That will enable work to be performed and to clear faults downstream.
This kind of equipment is directly connected to the reliability of the electrical supply.
Advantages of a Switchgear
Some of the essential features of switchgear include:
- Provision for manual control
- Quick operation
- Complete reliability
- Certain discrimination
Below, we will discuss each of them:
- Provision for manual control
Switchgear should have provision for manual control.
In case the electrical control fails, the needed operation could be performed with manual control.
- Fast operation
If a fault happens on any portion of the power system, the switchgear should run faster.
That’s to ensure that no damage is done to transformers, generators and other equipment.
When the fault isn’t cleared quickly, it’s likely to spread into healthy areas.
Therefore, it endangers a total shut down of the system.
- Certain discrimination
When a fault takes place on any area of the power system, your switchgear should discriminate between the healthy and faulty section.
It must isolate the faulty area from the system without influencing the healthy area.
That will guarantee continuity supply.
- Total reliability
The demand for dependable switchgear has become utmost importance along with the:
- the rising capacity of generating stations and;
- the continued trend of interconnection
That isn’t surprising anymore, as it’s included in the power system to enhance reliability.
If a fault takes place on any portion of the system, it must run to isolate the faulty area from the remaining circuit.
At this moment, we hope you already identified the major differences between RMU and switchgear.
In short:
Ring main unit is utilized in a substation in a high voltage distribution.
An example of this is an 11kV or above.
It is a ring system where one line is interrupted or fails, the other will work.
Post time: Feb-25-2022